Feb. 8th, 2014

jethrien: (Default)
I got trapped yesterday in WTC by ice falling off the Freedom Tower.

They completely shut the main exit after people got hit by chunks of ice falling from, y'know, 1776 feet in the air. But kept running trains in. It got rather cozy. There were the predictable handful of assholes who started yelling at people to move (to where?), and one nice guy who read us the PATH alerts in a loud clear voice and garnered some laughter and applause. For the most part, people were rueful and resigned. I took out a book for my long stand.

They managed to slow siphon us out through the temporary tunnel to the new ferry terminal. (I think everyone's really glad they opened that thing a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what they would have done before that.) We made our way through a horrible cramped little tunnel into the new terminal--as soon as we stepped out, everyone started smiling and chattering. The new terminal is gorgeous. All pristine white space, full of sunlight and giant photos on the walls. (I wonder if this was all a PR stunt for the new building...)

Of course, when we made it outside, it was still a mess, because the area really isn't designed for thousands of pedestrians and is mostly temporary walkways around construction. So we wound our way two-by-two for a couple blocks. As one of the people near me put it, it felt like we were in line for an amusement park. About as twisty and swift-moving. On the plus side, we were crammed so close together that it was actually pretty warm and reasonably comfortable.

The shards of ice the size of my hand twirled and sparkled in the sunlight as they fell. Rather pretty.

I was an hour late for work.

Pictures and hyperbolic whining at Gothamist.

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jethrien

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